Apparatus and method for thermal film development and scanning

Abstract

The invention relates to an apparatus for thermal development having a receiver for receiving an imagewise exposed thermal film, an accumulator for gathering the film, a drive for advancing the film from the receiver to the accumulator, a heater located between the receiver and the accumulator for developing the film, a compound image scanner for scanning the film after it has been thermally developed, the scanner having a first light source and a fist sensor placed for forming a first electronic record of the image formed on the developed firm by reflection, a second light source and a second sensor placed for forming a second electronic record of the image by an opposing reflection, and a third sensor and a third light source placed for forming a third electronic record of the image formed by transmission, and a lighttight container for the receiver and the heater.

What is claimed is:  
     
       1. An apparatus for thermal development comprising: 
       a receiver for receiving an imagewise exposed thermal film element;  
       an accumulator for gathering the film;  
       a drive for advancing the film from the receiver to the accumulator;  
       a heater located between the receiver and the accumulator for developing the film as it passes between the receiver and the accumulator;  
       a compound image scanner for scanning the film after it has been thermally developed, the scanner having a first light source and a first sensor placed for forming a first electronic record of the image formed on the developed thermal film by reflection, a second light source and a second sensor placed for forming a second electronic record of the image formed on the developed thermal film by an opposing reflection, and a third sensor and a third light source placed for forming a third electronic record of the image formed on the developed thermal film by transmission; wherein the third sensor may be the same or different than the first sensor and the third light source may be the same or different than the second light source; and  
       a lighttight container for the receiver and the heater.  
     
     
       2. The apparatus of  claim 1  wherein the receiver is a receiving chamber for a thrust cartridge, and the drive is a thrust cartridge drive suitable for advancing film from a thrust cartridge and rewinding the film into the thrust cartridge. 
     
     
       3. The apparatus of  claim 1  wherein the first, second, and third scanner light sources emit infrared radiation and the first, second, and third scanner sensors respond to infrared radiation. 
     
     
       4. The apparatus of  claim 1  wherein the lighttight container further contains at least one of the accumulator and the scanner. 
     
     
       5. The apparatus of  claim 1  wherein the apparatus further includes means for magnetic reading of the thermal film or magnetic writing to the thermal film. 
     
     
       6. The apparatus of  claim 1  wherein the apparatus further comprises a digitizer fed by the scanner and suitable for digitizing the first, second, and third electronic records to form corresponding digital file representations of an image formed on a film by exposure and thermal development. 
     
     
       7. The apparatus of  claim 6  further comprising means for storing, combining, and processing distinct digital files to form a corrected digital file representation of the scanned film image and means for storing, transmitting, displaying, or printing the corrected digital file. 
     
     
       8. A method of forming an electronic record of an image from an imagewise exposed thermal film element delivered to the receiver of an apparatus according to  claim 1 , said method comprising the steps of: 
       advancing the film from the receiver;  
       taking up the film in an accumulator;  
       thermally developing the film as it passes over a heater located between the receiver and the accumulator; and  
       scanning the film after it has been thermally developed to form a first electronic record of the image formed on the developed thermal film by reflection, a second electronic record of the image formed on the developed thermal film by an opposing reflection, and a third electronic record of the image formed on the developed thermal film by transmission.  
     
     
       9. The method of  claim 8  wherein the receiver is a receiving chamber for a thrust cartridge, and the drive is a thrust cartridge drive suitable for advancing film from a thrust cartridge and rewinding the film into the thrust cartridge and the thrust cartridge drive advances the film from the thrust cartridge. 
     
     
       10. The method of  claim 8  further having the step of maintaining the heater at between 50 to 180° C. 
     
     
       11. An image forming method comprising the step of scanning an imagewise exposed and thermally developed silver halide film element to form a first electronic record of the image formed on the developed thermal film by reflection, a second electronic record of the image formed on the developed thermal film by an opposing reflection, and a third electronic record of the image formed on the developed thermal film by transmission. 
     
     
       12. The method of  claim 11  wherein said scanning step employs infrared light. 
     
     
       13. The method of  claim 11  further having the step of digitizing each electronic record to form a corresponding digital file representation of an image formed on the film by exposure and thermal development. 
     
     
       14. The method of  claim 13  further having the steps of combining and processing the distinct digital files to form a first corrected digital file representative of the scanned image. 
     
     
       15. The method of  claim 14  further comprising the step of storing, transmitting, displaying, or printing the corrected digital file. 
     
     
       16. The method of  claim 11  having the step of regulating scanning of the image utilizing resident electronic signal processing and memory. 
     
     
       17. The method of  claim 14  further having the steps of: 
       scanning a thermally developed pre-exposed patch of known exposure characteristics to form a correction file; and  
       combining and processing the distinct digital files and the correction file to form a second corrected digital file representative of the scanned image.  
     
     
       18. An image forming method comprising the step of scanning an imagewise exposed and developed light sensitive silver halide color film element; 
       said element comprising red, green, and blue light sensitive layer units, wherein the layer units form reflective images of substantially similar color on development or wherein the element is substantially free of color forming components;  
       to form a first electronic record of the image formed on the developed film by reflection, a second electronic record of the image formed on the developed film by an opposing reflection, and a third electronic record of the image formed on the developed film by transmission.